Extended Electronic System for Public Acquisitions

Acronym of the case:

SEAP

Web address of the case:

http://www.e-licitatie.ro

Country of the case:

Romania

Posting Date:

15 February 2006

Last Edited Date:

12 March 2008

Author:

Ion MARCU (Envisum Systems)

transparency | purchase | tender

Type of initiative

Strategic initiative

Case Abstract

The Electronic System for Public Acquisitions is an eGovernment project initiated by the Romanian Government within the European eGovernment framework. It represents an information technology infrastructure which enables Romanian public institutions to procure goods and services through a web-based front end.

Description of the case

Domain

eGovernment

Topic

eProcurement

Sector

Procurement

Start date - End date

January 2007 (Ongoing)

Date operational

January 2007

Target Users

Citizen | Business (industry) | Administrative | Civil society

Target Users Description

Scope

National

Status

Operation

Language(s)

Romanian

Policy Context and Legal Framework

By 2010, 50% of the Romanian public procurements will be concluded electronically via www.e-licitatie.ro
The 27th of February, 2007, the Romanian Government approved the Decision for the amendment and completion of the Norms to enforce provisions pertaining to public procurement contracts assigned through electronic means.

Following the adoption of this legislative act, starting with 2008, contracting authorities are compelled to use the electronic means for at least 20% of public procurement.

The overall total value of public procurement purchased through electronic means â€“ online â€“ is prompted through cumulating the value of all awarded contracts.

The adoption of this Decision represents an important step for the fulfillment of the commitments laid down in the Manchester Declaration. By signing this declaration, the Ministers responsible for e-government policies within EU established as an objective that by 2010 at least 50% of public procurement above the European thresholds will be carried out electronically.

The Agency for Information Society Services (ASSI) is the public institution managing the portal www.e-licitatie.ro â€“ the Romanian Electronic System for Public Procurement .

E-licitatie.ro secures not only the publication at national level of all procurement notices, but also the automatic conveyance, whenever there is the case, of the respective notices to the Official Journal of the European Union.

As from January 1, 2007, 9 500 registered contracting authorities published, via www.e-licitatie.ro, 63 000 notices and 119 000 requests for quotation. 9800 suppliers are conducting business through the system.

For 2008, the National Prognosis Commission targets a GDP value of 120 billion Euro. Estimates for the Romanian public procurement market run from 16 to 19 billion Euro.

www.e-licitatie.ro is acknowledged as a good practice example at European and international level.

Project Size and Implementation

Type of initiative

Not applicable/not available

Overall Implementation approach

Public administration

Technology choice

Not applicable/not available

Funding source

Public funding national

Project size

Implementation: €1,000,000-5,000,000

Yearly cost:

€300-499,000

Impact, innovation and results

Economic effects

Larger than €10,000,000

Impact

(March, 2008)

. 9 800 suppliers, 9 600 contracting authorities;
. 65 000 notices (12 200 sent to OJEU)
. 121 000 RFQs
. 30 000 catalogue products

Innovation:
The private sector is highly flexible and the benefits of using such a system have constantly enriched the supplier?s base. Nevertheless, educational input for the private sector on all channels has had a positive impact on the dynamics of the system. Assuming clear responsibilities and traceability throughout the whole process chain are milestones considered and continuously revised at all levels.

Several changes in the government decision-making process have been addressed - a shorter timeframe to undertake the necessary procedural steps to maintain the simplicity and efficiency of the system, ruling out redundancy, setting up mechanisms to collect input from the private and the public sector.

The networked system nature makes disseminating information a powerful means which helps in the area of standardizing best practices. We are working with public and private bodies to take full advantage of the electronic means and we have seen some encouraging outcomes.

SEAP is relying on open standards in technology and procedures to fulfil the major goal of integration with similar European systems. Being an active member in several procurement and e-procurement related EU and world wide bodies, Romania is able to share its experience. Important issues need to be addressed at a high level. Having the institutional and technical capabilities to respond to forthcoming changes in the legal framework is a success prerequisite.

The system novelty makes a strong case for enlarging the "subject aware" human resources base. This can be accomplished by having a clear vision of the expected outcome. Our vision is embracing the benign use of technology, by means of simplicity, efficiency and respect to existing values.

Lessons learnt

Key points that can be drawn from the SEAP experience:
- eProcurement is a real solution to real problems;
- openness has a strong influence on saving public money;
- the introduction of new, modern concepts in Romanian public acquisitions, changing the mentality of citizens about public institutions is viable if the efforts are aggregated;
- encouraging the private sector to move to B2B has a positive impact on the overall economy;
- transparent mechanisms that can be easily evaluated by everybody get real appreciation from the citizens;
- eGovernment is an ongoing process and so is SEAP, continuously tuned to better serve its users;
- SEAP simplifies PP processes
- SEAP is a unique opportunity to reshape a wide spectrum of relations between the public and private sector, a challenge that can boost development at various levels.

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